Remodeling the kitchen

The kitchen in our new house was not good. It was "ok" as in the state department of health would not have condemned it. Here was the left side the day we moved in:

 What you can't see in the picture is that the counter is stained and has no laminate on the edges-they are bare. Also, each of the cupboards has wallpaper inside. Here is the right side:

 The paint is sage green. Blech. And if you were looking into the kitchen from the kitchen dining room, you would see a doorway into the formal dining room (it makes the kitchen look small):

 And this is the weird kitchen light fixture. Under the yellowed plastic arches are florescent lights:

Here is a picture looking from the formal dining room into the kitchen:

I really, really wanted red cupboards. Like bright, cherry red cupboards. But this space is so small and the ceiling so low, that I thought the kitchen would be overwhelmed by them. I painted an armoire the exact color that I wanted in the kitchen just to see how it would look:

 

I had two designers, Jilly and Mia, whose blog I follow come look at the space when we were in the middle of demolishing it. They agreed--the red would be too overpowering in this space. So I decided to paint the top cupboards linen and a those on the bottom grey. The first thing we did was demolish the tile in the kitchen:

Then we ripped out all the florescent lights, scraped all the wallpaper off the back of the cupboards, took off all the cupboard doors and primed all the cupboards:

No more weird light! (Although there is a huge hole in the ceiling)

Right side of the kitchen with all doors removed and primed (we removed the fridge and stove):

Left side with all the trim ripped off, doors off and primed:

Then Gary took a chainsaw (ok not really but it sounds better) and opened that narrow doorway into the kitchen from the formal dining room. It was just a foot and a half, but man did it make all the difference! Take a look:

Here you can see where Gary took the wall back and covered it with mdf board (look at the edge of the wall in the forefront of the picture, not the hole in the ceiling):

Then we took off the counters and sink and all the trim. We took down the old lamp over the sink. Still no flooring or light switch covers. I started painting the upper cupboards Light Raffia by Valspar and Dark Ash by Behr on the bottom cupboards (see my nice open doorway into the formal dining room?).

Another shot after the counter is off on the left side:

And the right side of the kitchen:

Then I finished painting the cupboards and the painters painted the kitchen a light gray. We put on the dark gray counter top. Gary spent HOURS trying to get the counter just right so it would fit the sink. We literally spent hours shaving the counter, lifting the 200 lb sink up to see if it would fit, lifting it back to the floor, repeat. *sigh* It was one VERY long night before Thanksgiving.

But Gary eventually got it just right.

This is the left side of the kitchen now. I love the cage light above the sink. I love the deep farm house sink. And check out the recessed lighting Gary replaced the weird light fixture with. (We had a drywall company re-texture the hole the light fixture left and paint it to match the rest of the ceiling around the house.) The faucet from the old kitchen was only three months old, but it needed three holes in the sink to be installed and the new farm house sink only had one hole--who knew that sinks had multiple holes and faucets weren't interchangeable? Me, that's who! Since I had to buy a new faucet I really wanted to get one of those that you can touch anywhere and it turns on. My sister stopped me. She said it was too expensive. Gary must have set her up to it. But this one is ok:

And I LOVE my new oven and microwave.

And Gary installed the most B-A-U-tiful brushed steel back splash in a herringbone pattern. Man oh man does it look shiny and fabulous in person!

This is the shot from the formal dining room through the kitchen into the kitchen dining room. (Gary has since finished the backsplash on the right side, but I don't have a picture of that yet.) Notice the red armoire in the dining room? That was going to be the color of the kitchen cupboards. I'm glad I listened to Mia and Jilly--I really like how everything turned out. Check out the wood laminate floor Bekkie and I installed--cool, huh?

I love the red color on the armoire, but it's bright! So there you have it, our kitchen remodel. Let's take one more look:



Before-left




After-left




Before-right




After-right

 We still have to add a fan and finish putting the handles on the bottom cupboard. But it looks miles better than it did!

Removing the fireplace

The house that we bought came with a fireplace. Now to those of you who live in Utah or Oklahoma that might sound lovely. In Arizona, not so much. One, it's too hot 360 days a year to ever think of using it. Two, the other four days we are under high-pollution warnings and it's illegal to burn anything in the fireplace. So having a fireplace in the valley is about as useful as . . . well, as having a matchstick in hell.

The ONLY design element that Gary cared anything about during this process was removing the fireplace.  Seriously, if he had it his way, the fireplace project would have been the only one he undertook.  Everything else you will be reading about here were my ideas, inspired by pinterest and DIY blogs that Gary had to be cajoled, bribed, threatened, and pleaded with to complete. (And I must add that he has done a more beautiful job than even I thought was possible, and I'm pretty optimistic.)

Here is what the fireplace/library room looked like when we moved in (the fireplace is on the right-hand side of the room):

Next to the fireplace is an ugly french door. And notice how there is tile in half the room and carpet in the other? We fixed that too.  Here is a better picture of just the fireplace. It's not horrible--It's just not the right color (our colors are gray, cream, mustard yellow, and cherry red). And it has an old-fashioned oak mantle.

 Time to demo!! In this picture you can see how Gary already broke up all the tile. The carpet is ripped up and all the bricks are broken up onto it.

 And this is what that whole thing looked like on the floor of my new house (AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!) It's right about this picture when I thought, I cannot WATCH  THIS!!

 Fiberglass insulation falling out, mortar all over the walls, oh and a HUMUNGOUS HOLE in my wall!

 This is what the other side of the room looked like--we were scraping the mortar off the cement floor--a long and tedious job. And this is also a tiny peek at the "before"kitchen. (And a glimpse at the unwidened doorway to the entryway and the fugly pink wall.)

 Here is all the brick and cement block cleared away, the carpet cleared out, and the cement floor smoothed over:

 Still looks like a gaping cavity. Once we got the brick removed there was old laminate flooring stuck in front of the fireplace (you can see a black rectangle in front of the fireplace in this picture.) So the fireplace was a retro-fit, not original to the house. I felt a little bit more comfortable demolishing it knowing that.

 And then Gary got insulation (lots of it) and drywall and walled it up:

 If you look closely in this picture you can see that the popcorn ceiling has been removed and the walls painted a light gray. No more fireplace, but still an ugly wall and plain cement floors:

 Oh, ho, what's this? What could those strange red rolls on the ground be? Why it's underlayment for the wood floors you say? (and seriously, Gary when are you going to replace those fugly french doors with my brand new pretty white one sitting in the garage??)

 Bekkie flew in from Utah (thanks, Bekkie!) to help me lay the flooring. We knocked it out in one weekend (we rock!) Now there is pretty dark wood where the fireplace used to be and you can't tell it was ever there:

No fireplace next to the yucky french door--and my, my what a pretty kitchen I can see a glimpse of! Now if only the french door were gone and the baseboard in this room were finished...



BEFORE





AFTER

 Crazy, huh? Gary really is a wizard. I am glad he insisted on doing it. The room looks much better without it hanging out in there. Wait til you see what I have up my sleeve to decorate this room!

October 2012

October was soooo busy! We closed on the house on Oct.2 and most of it was taken up by remodeling. But first, here is what else happened in October. Thor watched Bronson's swimming practices in the afternoons and we tried to get him to wear goggles.

 Thor finally got over his irrational fear of the swinging drawbridge at the park:

 Now he runs back and forth across it like there's no tomorrow.

 Sabre and Austin went to homecoming together. I love the pictures! (Thanks Jenn for taking them--I was covered in kitchen cabinet paint when they were leaving!)

 What a cute couple they make!

 These were taken at Jenn's house since our's (both of them) were torn apart at the moment.

 And Halloween. Thor was a Chipendale dancer:

 That's him flexing his muscles:

 It is always horrifically hot in Arizona on Halloween night (and this year was no different--it was in the high 90s). While everyone else is wearing coats and longjohns under their costumes, we struggle to find costumes that are cool enough for kids to run around outside in. This was perfect! He had on black slacks and shoes and little french cuffs (complete with "jeweled" cuff links)--absolutely perfect for running around in the heat! (and yes, those are dollar bills from our Monopoly game in his waistband!) He hammed it up--stopping and dancing for everyone that gave him candy--it was hilarious!

And that was October!